Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug that caused a MiniPlex to crash when many conversions were enabled and a lot of data was processed at the same time.

Changes/New Features

Rotating Mast/Wind Correction
This version supports using an NMEA 2000 Rudder Angle sensor to be used to measure mast rotation in order to correct the wind angle from a rotating mast-mounted wind sensor.

Changes/New Features

New Conversion ID's for XDR Sentences
The following new Conversion ID's have been added set an XDR Transducer ID using the $PSMDXDR command:

2: Air temperature to PGN 130316
3: Sea temperature to PGN 130316
4: Atmospheric/barometric pressure to PGN 130314
5: Relative outside humidity to PGN 130313

All meteorologocal XDR sentences now require Talker ID "WI".

Bug Fixes

Incorrect Values in PGN's 130310 and 130311
Fixed a bug in transmission of PGN 130310, which was introduced in V3.7.0, when transmission of legacy PGN's 130310, 130311 and 130312 was implemented.

When transmitting water temperature, PGN 130310 would be transmitted with the water temperature field set to "not available" while the air temperature field contained a random value. Also, PGN 130311 was transmitted with a pressure close to 0.

Note that these PGN's are only transmitted when an NMEA 0183 input of the MiniPlex-3 has been set to "Weather Instrument (<V2.0)"

Changes/New Features

Updated Magnetic Variation Table
The internal magnetic variation table has been updated with new data for 2024.

Changes/New Features

NMEA 0183 Sentence Length
An increasing number of devices transmit NMEA 0183 sentences that exceed the limit of 82 characters, as per NMEA 0183 standard.
Therefore the maximum sentence length the MiniPlex-3 can handle, is increased (again) to 145 characters on all inputs.

Bug Fixes

Incorrect Altitude in PGN 129029 (GNSS Position Data)
When a GGA sentence contained a negative altitude, it was converted incorrectly to NMEA 2000.

Missing HDOP in GGA Sentence
Fixed a bug in reception of PGN 129539 (GNSS DOPs), which could result in an intermittently missing HDOP value in the resulting GGA sentence.

Changes/New Features

PGN 127493 (Transmission Parameters, Dynamic)
PGN 127493 (Transmission Parameters, Dynamic) is now decoded into an $ERXDR sentence.

PGN 130316 (Temperature)
PGN 130316 can contain temperatures from various sources. Outside and sea temperature were already decoded. We have added Exhaust gas temperature to the list, which is decoded into an $ERXDR sentence.

Flow Rate Units
Until now, flow rates in XDR sentences were expressed in liters per second, indicated by an 'l' in the Units field of the XDR sentence, as per NMEA 0183 standard.
On small craft however, consuming as little as 2 liters per hour for instance, this would result in a value of 0.00056 in the resulting XDR sentence. Since we limit fractional values to 3 decimals, this would result in

$ERXDR,R,0.001,l*64

which actually equals 3.6 liters per second.

On our request, NMEA has defined a new unit: liters per hour, indicated by an 'H'. As of this firmware version, the 'H' is used to indicate flow rate in all generated XDR sentences. This effectively increases the resolution of converted flow rates:

$ERXDR,R,2.000,H*43

Modbus
It is now possible to set the slave address of the MiniPlex though MPXConfig3 when Modbus Slave mode is enabled.

Bug Fixes

AIS Message 5
If an !AIVDM or !AIVDO sentence containing AIS Message 5 was converted to NMEA 2000, the arrival date would be wrong if the MiniPlex had not received the current time and date from a GPS source.

Engine Oil Pressure
Engine oil pressure converted from PGN 127489 to an XDR sentence was 10 times too high.

Bug Fixes

PGN 126464 (PGN List)
When PGN 126464 was requested by another device on the NMEA 2000 network, the MiniPlex would reboot.

Reverse Heading
The Reverse Heading function did not copy the second character of the Talker ID of the originating sentence. Thus, $HEHDT would be converted to $HHDT.

Changes/New Features

Host Navigation Override
A new NMEA 2000 option (18) implemented to enable priority of navigation/waypoint data received from a host interface. Normally, an NMEA 2000 source has priority over any NMEA 0183 input. With this option enabled, NMEA 0183 navigation/waypoint data contained in APB, BWC/BWR, RMB and XTE sentences received on a host interface (USB, Ethernet, WiFi) has priority over the same data received on NMEA 2000.
This option is enabled with command

PSMDNO,C,18,1

Bug Fixes

No AIS Targets on NMEA 2000
AIS target coordinates with a western longitude or southern latitude were not converted from NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000.

MiniPlex Reset on Unknown XDR Sentences
Receiving XDR sentences with an unknown Transducer ID would lead to a reset of a MiniPlex with a new MCU.

Unterminated Sentences from NMEA V1.5 Conversion
Enabling the NMEA V1.5 option on output 2 could lead to transmission of unterminated sentences. These sentences would have no checksum added and no CR/LF termination.

No Modbus Reception
On a MiniPlex with a new MCU, no Modbus data could not be received due to a misconfiguration of the NMEA Out2/RS485 port.

Bug Fixes

SeaTalk Transmission Halting II
When navigating to a waypoint with a name longer than 8 characters, the MiniPlex could flood the SeaTalk network with messages, effectively locking-up the network.

SeaTalk Waypoint Message 82
The SeaTalk message for short waypoint names (Datagram 82, four characters max), displayed by ST50 or older instruments, was incorrectly formatted, leading to an incorrectly displayed space character.

Changes/New Features

New MCU used in MiniPlex-3
Due to the ongoing shortage on the microcontroller market, we redesigned the MiniPlex-3 series to use a new microcontroller. We will be producing MiniPlex-3 units with both old and new MCU's, whatever is available on the market. We therefore defined a new firmware file format, which can hold multiple firmware images for both types of MCU. MPXConfig3 V3.17.1 supports this new firmware file format. It will automatically detect the type of MCU used in your MiniPlex-3, and load the correct firmware accordingly. This way, users do not need to worry about choosing the correct firmware file. To the user, the MiniPlex-3 is still the same device.

This conversion however, has lead to many changes "under the hood". Although we tested both platforms extensively, the occasional bug may surface. So please contact us if you feel the MiniPlex-3 is not performing as it should, so we can fix this immediately.

Full Modbus RTU Slave Implemented
All data received from NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 sources is now available through Modbus RTU, when the MiniPlex-3 Modbus Slave mode is enabled. Contact us for details.

Bug Fixes

SeaTalk Transmission Halting
Fixed a bug that could prevent SeaTalk data from being transmitted.

SOG Error in AIS Message 9 from NMEA 2000
The SOG received in AIS Message 9 (Search and Rescue aircraft position report) from an NMEA 2000 source was converted incorrectly to NMEA 0183.

Changes/New Features

Magnetic Variation Table
This firmware contains an updated magnetic variation table for 2023.

Rotating Mast Angle & Wind Correction
The mast angle is calculated from a fixed primary heading sensor and a secondary sensor mounted on the rotating mast. This mast angle is then used to correct the wind angle from the sensor on top of the rotating mast.

Data Sources for this feature are on the Conversions tab. Primary and secondary heading sensors and a wind sensor on either one of the NMEA 0183 inputs or on the NMEA 2000 network can be selected.

The mast angle calculation is separate from the wind angle correction. Thus, the wind angle correction will also work when a mast rotation sensor is used which transmits the measured mast angle using an XDR sentence. The calculated mast angle is transmitted in an XDR sentences using Transducer ID "mastangle", which is also used by NKE systems. ShipModul proprietary PGN 65330 (Mast Angle) is also transmitted.

Modbus Poll Interval
The Modbus poll interval can now be specified with using a new parameter of the

$PSMDMB,C,R,<x>

sub-command. x is the poll interval in 10 ms increments.

Output NMEA V1.5 Option Extended
Older equipment supporting NMEA V1.5 and V2.2 may accept heading and course values with only one decimal digit. This firmware version strips all heading and course values in OSD, RSD and TTM sentences to one decimal. All decimals from the time field in the TTM sentence are removed.

Magnetic Variation on SeaTalk
The MiniPlex used to transmit magnetic variation only if it wasn't received from another SeaTalk source. This behaviour has been changed: the MiniPlex will now always transmit magnetic variation on SeaTalk as long it is available from either a heading source, a GPS or the internal variation table. Any existing SeaTalk source will then automatically stop transmitting magnetic variation.

Sentence Rebuilding
Added an optional trigger field to the Sentence Rebuild definition to test the first parameter in the originating sentence. This allows rebuilding of specific proprietary sentences that have a common address field such as $PFEC,GPatt and $PFEC,GPhve.

A revised description of the PSMDSR command can be downloaded: PSMDSR Command V3.16.0

Decoding XDR Sentences with "BARO"
Transducer ID "BARO" is added to read barometric pressure from an XDR sentence with any Talker ID.

Bug Fixes

Sentence Rebuilding
Fixed a bug in the Sentence Rebuilding feature that prevented non-standard NMEA sentences from being converted. The entry index is corrected from 1 to 3 instead of 0 to 2.

Modbus XDR Rate
The Modbus XDR rate could be set to 0, which stopped everything. A check has been added to prevent this.

Magnetic Variation on SeaTalk
A bug is fixed, which prevented the internal variation from being used to correct magnetic heading, GPS COG and bearing to waypoint received from SeaTalk.

If the internal variation table was used, the variation from the table was transmitted onto SeaTalk but the transmitted COG was still corrected using the the variation from the originating RMC sentence.
(Note: heading and COG are always magnetic on the SeaTalk network.)

PSMDST Sentence
Fixed a bug that prevented $PSMDST sentences from reaching an output or host port.

Reading Barometric Pressure from XDR Sentences
Fixed a bug in reading barometric pressure from an XDR sentence: the value read was a factor 10,000 too low.

Input Modes
When switching input modes, the sentence parser was not reset. Thus, when switching modes "in the middle" of a sentence, the parser still used the proviously set conditions to look for the sentence end. The input would thus no longer work.
This is resolved by using a timeout on the reception of a sentence (which is in accordance with NMEA 0183!), to ensure the parser is always returning to idle state.

If a sentence with erroneous checksum was received on an input set to "NMEA (ERR)", an additional checksum was added. Also, when a correct sentence was received in this mode, the checksum was stripped and never added again.

Changes/New Features

Conversion of TLL sentence to WPL and PGN 130074
This conversion can convert a target indicated on a fishfinder to a waypoint on a plotter.

NMEA 2000 Trip Fuel Consumption
Conversion of PGN 127497 (Trip Fuel Consumption, Engine) to XDR sentences implemented.

Sentence Rebuilding
A Sentence Rebuilding feature has been implemented. This feature can be used to build a new NMEA 0183 sentence with arbitrary text and data fields of another sentence. Up to three Sentence Rebuilding definitions can be stored.

Time source fix for Ocean Signal AIS
The MiniPlex-3 uses a GPS time source for several operations. If the only time source is an Ocean Signal AIS transponder connected through NMEA 2000, it would be rejected because this transponder mistakenly markes the Time Source in the System Time PGN as "Local Crystal clock" instead of "GPS". The MiniPlex-3 will now detect this AIS transponder and accepts its System Time PGN as time source.

WiFi Settings
The default settings of the WiFi access point on a MiniPlex-3Wi(-N2K) have been changed. The WiFi channel is now set to 6 to avoid conflicts with other devices which often are using channel 1 by default.

The DHCP range is now limited from 10.0.0.2 to 10.0.0.9, so fixed IP addresses can now be assigned to clients from 10.0.0.10 and up.

Bug Fixes

Priority
When priority was enabled on SeaTalk and NMEA 2000 GPS sources, and more than one sentence (RMC, GGA, GLL or VTG) was enabled, then priority was only applied to one of these sentences. Others were generated regardless of a lower priority.

Modbus
Fixed corrupted Modbus diagnostic sentences.

$PSMDXDR
The $PSMDXDR command did not return a response sentence. A $PSMDXDR request would result in $PSMDXD report sentences instead of $PSMDXDR.

Changes/New Features

DC/Battery PGN,s
Conversion of PGN's 127506 (DC - Detailed Status) and 127508 (Battery Status) into XDR sentences implemented.

Maximum NMEA 0183 Sentence Length
The maximum sentence length is now limited to the NMEA 0183 standard of 82 characters to save memory for new features.
Only NMEA Input 4 (Input 8 on the MiniPlex-3PRO) supports sentences up to 145 characters.

TAG Blocks
When MPXConfig3 is connected to a MiniPlex-3, it will enable TAG blocks for the duration of the connection.
These TAG blocks now contain a relative time parameter for diagnostic purposes.

Conversion of Navigation Data from Multiple NMEA 2000 Sources
When the MiniPlex receives navigation data (PGN's 129283, 129284 and 129285) from multiple sources, all parameters will be assembled randomly in the resulting NMEA sentences APB, BWC/BWR, RMB and XTE. Such a situation occurs when multiple navigation stations are synchronized for redundancy.

To prevent this, a priority is applied on the NMEA 2000 Source Address (SA), resulting in only one source being converted to NMEA 0183. A lower SA has higher priority. If sources have a non-zero Device Instance (DI), then their DI is used for prioritizing the sources. Since the DI of a device can be changed, navigation sources can be prioritized by the user.

Bug Fixes

Engine XDR Sentences
Bug fixes in XDR sentences for engine parameters:

• Engine oil temperature was 10x too low.
• Engine oil and engine temperatures were incrorrectly converted when below 0°C.

BWC/BWR Sentences to SeaTalk
BWC or BWR sentences would not be converted to SeaTalk if these were the only sentences received and present in the Routing Table. This is fixed.

Changes/New Features

GPS Pinning suppression now works on VTG sentences too.
When option Suppress GPS Pinning is enabled, the COG field of RMC sentences and both magnetic and true COG fields of VTG sentences are filled with 0.0 if a GPS does not fill these fields.

Bug Fixes

If a COG greater than 327.67° was received from SeaTalk, the converted heading in NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 would wrap around to a small value. This is fixed.

Bug Fixes

SeaTalk-STNG mode (Input 1) no longer worked after some modifications.
PGN 127257 (Attitude) added to the reported PGN Transmit List in PGN 126464.

Changes/New Features

Decoding of XDR sentences with Transducer ID's "AirTemp", "PTCH" and "ROLL" added to support output from NKE navigation systems.

Bug Fixes

Yaw, Pitch and Roll values received from PGN 127257 (Attitude) were output in XDR or PFEC,GPAtt sentences in radians instead of degrees. This is fixed.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug in the checksum calculation of NMEA V1.5 sentences when option Output NMEA V1.5 of NMEA Out2 was enabled.

Changes/New Features

True Wind Calculation
A new option is added to use SOG instead of STW to calculate true wind.

Environmental PGN's
Environmental data can now be transmitted using deprecated PGN's 130310, 130311 en 130312 instead of 130313, 130314 and 130316, for compatibility with older NMEA 2000 equipment (NMEA 2000 V1.300 and older).
To enable these PGN's, the Device Type of an NMEA 0183 input must be set to "Weather Instrument (<V2)".
Whenever a "(<V2)" - Device Type is selected for an NMEA 0183 input, the Product Information PGN for that input will report NMEA message database version 1.300.

Magnetic Variation
A magnetic variation table has been added, covering the world from 88° N to 88°S. A new option called "Use internal variation table" has been implemented to use this table. When this option is enabled and the MiniPlex receives a GPS position, this table is used in the following occasions:

• NMEA 0183 conversions from magnetic to true heading.
• NMEA 0183 conversions from true to magnetic heading.
• Generated HDG and RMC sentences from NMEA 2000 or SeaTalk sources.
• Transmission of magnetic variation on an NMEA 2000 network.
• Transmission of magnetic variation on a SeaTalk network, but only if no other variation source exists on the SeaTalk network.

We will update the magnetic variation once a year.

Changes/New Features

When converting VTG to VHW, only the speed fields of the VTG sentence are now copied into the new VHW sentence. The heading fields are filled if an NMEA 0183, NMEA 2000 or SeaTalk heading source exists.

Changes/New Features

Transmission frequency of the $AGRSA sentence generated from NMEA 2000 is increased to 10Hz, for a smoother display on rudder angle indicators.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug in the MWV to VWR conversion. The wind speed and angle in the resulting VWR sentence was 10 times too high.

Changes/New Features

The heading field of a $PFEC,GPatt sentence is now filled when a heading from the same NMEA 2000 Source Address is present on the network.

ShipModul proprietary sentences ($PSMD...) that control the MiniPlex are now interpreted from all inputs.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a SeaTalk bug: a wind angle greater than 327.68° would be converted to 0° or another random value in Datagram 10 (Apparent Wind Angle).

Changes/New Features

Conversion from true heading to magnetic heading now outputs an HDG sentence instead of HDM. The HDM sentence is deprecated but can still be generated using the NMEA V1.5 option of NMEA Out2.

Changes/New Features

Conversion of BWC, BWR and WCV sentences to NMEA 2000 (and SeaTalk) added.
The navigation calculation mode field in PGN 129284 is set to Great Circle when BWC is received and to Rhumb Line when BWR is received. Receiving only APB or RMB will always set the navigation calculation mode to Great Circle while concurrent reception of BWC or BWR overrules this to the correct mode.

When transmission of BWC/BWR is enabled in MPXConfig3, the WCV sentence is now also transmitted.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug when transmitting PGN 130306 from a received MWD sentence. When one of the direction fields in this sentence was empty, the corresponding PGN 130306 (Wind, ground referenced to True North/Magnetic North) would be transmitted with either a random wind direction or with the direction field marked as Invalid.

Changes/New Features

The maximum communication speed of all NMEA 0183 inputs and outputs has been increased to 115200 Baud.

Changes/New Features

Option Reverse Heading now reverses heading in a THS sentence too.

When options Reverse Heading or HDT <-> THS are enabled, the Talker IDs of HDT and THS sentences are now preserved.

Changes/New Features

Conversion between HDT and THS
A conversion between HDT and THS sentences in both directions has been added.

THS sentence and NMEA 2000
An option has been added to enable transmission of THS instead of HDT sentences from an NMEA 2000 heading source.
The Talker ID of the generated THS sentence will be "GP" if the heading originates from a GPS compass. In all other cases, the Talker ID will be "HE".

A conversion of THS sentences to NMEA 2000 has been added as well.

Changes/New Features

AIS MOB Alarm
An AIS based MOB alarm has been implemented, storing up to 8 MMSIs.

Attitude data from NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183
The conversion of heave (PGN 127252) and attitude (PGN 127257) to NMEA 0183 XDR or $PFEC,GPatt/GPhve sentences is improved. The maximum delay is reduced to 2 ms to allow high-speed tracking of motion data.

ETA time and date converted
Conversion between NMEA 0183 sentence $--ZTG and ETA Time and ETA Date in PGN 129284 implemented.

NMEA 0183 conversions
Several new NMEA 0183 conversions have been implemented.

GPS satellite information
Conversion between GSA/GSV sentences and PGNs 129539/129540 implemented in both directions.

Modbus RTU
The MiniPlex-3 can now operate as a Modbus RTU Master, reading data from Modbus enabled industrial sensors. This data is converted into NMEA 0183 XDR sentences.

NMEA 0183 V1.5 Conversion
The heading field in HDM sentences and the COG fields in VTG sentences are truncated to remove any decimal places. This enures compatibility with older navigation equipment.

NMEA 2000 device setup
Parameters of other NMEA 2000 devices such as Source Address, Device Instance and System Instance can now be changed in the NMEA 2000 Device List in MPXConfig3. This is especially useful to change the Device Instance if prioritization of NMEA 2000 is required (NMEA 2000 priority set to "DI").

NMEA 2000 engine data
NMEA 2000 engine data is now converted to NMEA 0183 sentences (XDR/RPM).

NMEA 2000 generic sensor data
Conversion of Maretron proprietary PGN 65286 (Fluid Flow Rate) and PGN 127505 (Fluid Level) to XDR sentences implemented.

NMEA 2000 data source priority
NMEA 2000 data sources can now be prioritized for conversion to NMEA 0183 using the Device Instance of a data source. A higher Device Instance value means lower priority. The Device Instance values are also compared to the set priority values of the NMEA 013 inputs. This enables full prioritization of all sources of like data.

NMEA 2000 meteorological data conversion to NMEA 0183 improved
Meteorological data is now converted to $WIXDR sentences. The precision of barometric pressure is increased from 3 to 5 decimals. The MiniPlex-3 will automatically select the pressure PGN with the highest resolution.
The legacy $WIMDA sentence can still be enabled.

NMEA 2000/NMEA 0183 conversions
Several conversions between NMEA 2000 and NMEA 0183 have been added. See the Conversion Matrix (PDF) for an overview.

Priority check on true heading
HDT sentences are now included in the GPS Status check used for priority. If GPS Status check is enabled and an HDT sentence has an empty heading field, the sentence is blocked. HDT sentences do not have a status/mode field. So the only way for a GPS compass to indicate an invalid heading due to loss of fix, is to leave the heading field of an HDT sentence empty.

Routing
Routing of NMEA 2000 sources has been greatly improved. Sources used to be selected by their NMEA 2000 Source Address (SA). However, when new devices were added to the NMEA 2000 network, these SA's could change and thus mess up the routing table. This problem is solved by selecting and storing the device name.

SeaTalk improvements
SeaTalk rudder angle (datagram A3) is now converted between SeaTalk and NMEA 0183/2000.

Navigation to a waypoint is now fully converted between SeaTalk and NMEA 0183/2000 utilizing all required SeaTalk datagrams (82, 85, A1).

A new SeaTalk mode (SeaTalk-STNG) is added to Input 1. This mode converts control datagrams to and from NMEA 2000/SeaTalk^ng. This allows a legacy S100 remote control to be used to control a Raymarine autopilot on NMEA 2000.
This conversion basically emulates the Raymarine SeaTalk-STNG converter.

Speed Through Water at 10 Hz
The frequency of generated VBW and VHW sentences from NMEA 2000 data can now be set to 10 Hz.

VTG 360° heading correction
Some GPS compasses output a heading of 360° in their VTG sentences when sailing exactly North, which is an invalid value. The MiniPlex-3 replaces such a heading with 0°.

Wind data from NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000 improved
PGN 130306 (Wind Data) containing true wind from an MWV,T sentence used to be transmitted with Wind Reference 3 (referenced to ground). The correct reference however is 4 (referenced to water). To ensure compatibility with all receiving devices, PGN 130306 is now transmitted twice: once with Wind Reference 3 (referenced to ground) and once with Wind Reference 4 (referenced to water).

Bug Fixes

AIS Conversions from NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183
A generated VDO sentence could have an AIS channel field set to ‘0’ instead of being empty if no channel information was available from NMEA 2000.

Apparent to True wind conversion
The conversion from AWA/AWS to TWA/TWS now uses the STW instead of SOG.

Empty $--VBW Sentences
Empty $--VBW sentences were transmitted when a heading was received from NMEA 2000 while no other attitude information was received.

Loss of waypoint names from NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183
When navigating along a route on an NMEA 2000 enabled plotter, this plotter may transmit the waypoint name once a second, at longer intervals or only when the next waypoint is encountered in a route.
In the last two cases, the APB and RMB sentences transmitted by the MiniPlex-3 would contain a waypoint name only once, followed by APB and RMB sentences without waypoint name.

NMEA 2000 not starting
Sometimes a MiniPlex-3 would not transmit or receive NMEA 2000 data after starting up. This was caused by a bug that prevented the MiniPlex-3 from successfully claiming Source Addresses on startup when it was the first device on the NMEA 2000 network to start up or when the NMEA 2000 network was powered up after powering up the MiniPlex-3.

NMEA 2000 Humidity PGN 130313 not decoded
PGN 130313 was never decoded unless the instance of the sensor was set to 1. This bug has been present since V2.0.0.

GPS priority check on NMEA 2000
When a priority was set for NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 GPS sources together with the "Check GPS status" option, the MiniPlex-3 would not fall back to a lower priority source when a source on NMEA 2000 showed a "no-fix" status.

GPS time not being decoded
GPS time from an NMEA 0183 source with a Talker ID other than "GP" was not decoded.

Routing of AIS VDM/VDO sentences
AIS VDM/VDO sentences could not be routed through the routing table.

Changes/New Features

WiFi
Sub-command PSMDWI,R implemented to restore an unresponsive WiFi module to its factory settings. This can sometimes recover a WiFi module which no longer responds to a PSMDWI,A command.

Changes/New Features

GNSS position from AIS Own Ship
Option 31 (PSMDOP,C,31,1) has been added to provide GNSS position data on NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000, derived from AIS Own Ship position data received from NMEA 0183 or NMEA 2000. Only position, COG and SOG are available, no date and time of fix or GNSS mode/quality.

No NMEA 2000 from Host interfaces
NMEA 2000 option 28 (PSMDNO,C,28,1) has been added to block conversion of NMEA 0183 from a host port to NMEA 2000 (and SeaTalk as a side effect). Routing to NMEA 0183 outputs is unaffected.

APB sentence and PGN 127237
The Heading to Steer field of the APB sentence is no longer output nor decoded. This field converts to the Heading to Steer field (11) of PGN 127237. This PGN however is only transmitted by autopilots while an APB sentence is usually never received by navigation applications, only transmitted. So it makes no sense to implement any conversion of this parameter. PGN 127237 is no longer transmitted. This PGN is dedicated to heading control systems - aka autopilots and therefore has no place in an NMEA 0183/NMEA 2000 gateway. It could in fact have interfered with the correct operation of autopilot systems. A received PGN 127237 is now only decoded to obtain the heading from autopilots. Some Raymarine autopilots appear not to output PGN 127250 (Heading).

Divisor in NMEA Out2
Option 30 (PSMDOP,C,30,1) is added to disable the sentence divisor on NMEA Out2.

Pinning Suppression added
Option 11 (PSMDOP,C,11,1) added to suppress “pinning”: a feature of some GNSS receivers which leaves the COG and SOG fields in the RMC sentence empty when the position is stationary. Some devices receiving such sentences consider this as an error. When this option is enabled, these empty fields will be filled with “0.0”.

$--STN Sentence
The MiniPlex no longer outputs optional $--STN sentences. TAG blocks are a much better way to indicate the source of a sentence.

APB, RMB Sentences and PGN 129284
These sentences and PGN are now only converted when they contain a valid Bearing to Destination. This prevents unwanted blocking of conversions of lower priority navigation sources when a GPS or plotter transmits empty APB/RMB sentences or PGN 129284, as many apparently do.

SeaTalk depth display
Option 17 (PSMDOP,C,17,1) implemented to enable depth display in meters on SeaTalk repeaters.

Reverse True Heading
The Reverse True Heading option now reverses the heading of all heading sentences: HDG, HDM and HDT.

Speed Reversal
Option 18 (PSMDOP,C,18,1) has been added to reverse the speed fields in a VBW sentence.

RSA Sentence
A received RSA sentence may now have a single rudder angle in either the starboard or the port field.

Conversion of $PANZRSA to $AGRSA
Implemented a conversion of the Anschutz proprietary Rudder Angle sentence $PANZRSA to a standard $AGRSA sentence.

WiFi V1.5.x.x
Added support for WiFi firmware vesion 1.5.x.x.

Wind Conversions
Option 19 (PSMDOP,C,19,1) has been added to reverse the wind direction.
Option 20 (PSMDOP,C,20,1) has been added to generate an MWD sentence (Wind across the surface of the earth).

Conversions Source
Conversion results no longer originate from input “C” if the converted sentence can be clearly distinguished from the originating sentence.

For instance, if an HDG sentence is converted to an HDT sentence, it will appear from the same input. Since their Sentence Formatter is different (HDG vs HDT), they can be routed differently.

If a heading is reversed, the conversion will originate from input “C” to allow original and conversion result to be routed differently.

An exception is an MWV sentence: an MWV,R and resulting MWV,T will originate from the same input as each sentence has a different Reference field (“R” or “T”).

This change was implemented to allow cascading of several wind conversions (VWR -> MWV,R -> MWV,T -> MWD).

Conversion from HDM to HDT
When an HDM sentence is converted to an HDT sentence, both deviation and variation are used to correct the heading if they are available from any source.

Mast Angle Conversion to NMEA 2000
Added conversion of Mast Angle in an XDR sentence to proprietary PGN 65330. Configuration sentence $PSMDXD implemented to define the Transducer ID field of the XDR sentence.

AIS Conversions
Conversion of AIS Message 19 from NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183 added. This message is now converted in both directions. Conversion of AIS Message 4 (Base Station), 9 (SAR Aircraft) and 21 (AtoN) added. Some AIS PGN’s have different sizes in NMEA 2000 versions 1.3xx and 2.000. The Device Type setting of the NMEA 0183 input, “AIS” or “AIS (<V2)”, now determines the size of the generated PGN. This resolves issues with some Raymarine MFD’s that only recognize V1.3xx PGN’s.

Speed Through Water Conversion
When STW is converted, both VHW and VBW sentence are now converted into PGN 128259 (Speed, Water Referenced) and PGN 130578 (Vessel Speed Components) and vice versa. This improves compatibility between old and new data and devices.

Ethernet to NMEA Out
Routing of sentences from the Ethernet port of a MiniPlex-3E(-N2K) to an NMEA output is no longer blocking (no NMEA 0183 is processed as long as the output queue is full).

Because of this blocking, a MiniPlex-3E in UDP mode becomes unreponsive to MPXConfig3 when the following conditions are met:

• The MiniPlex-3E receives many NMEA sentences from other MiniPlex-3Es on the network
• these sentences are routed to an output
• the output queue is full

Since most MiniPlex-3E's are used in UDP mode, blocking is useless anyway, because UDP traffic has no means of flow control.

Generating “other” GNSS Sentences
Option 21 (PSMDOP,C,21,1) has been added to generate NMEA 0183 GNSS sentences from an NMEA 0183 source. This allows for instance GLL, GGA and VTG sentences to be generated using the “NMEA 0183 Generation” checkboxes when only RMC sentences are being received.

System Time PGN from Ocean Signal AIS Transponders
It appears that AIS transponders from Ocean Signal generate a System Time PGN with its Source field set to 5 (Local Crystal clock). This source is not accepted by the MiniPlex firmware as a time and date source for generating NMEA 0183 GNSS sentences, resulting in empty time and date fields. As a solution to this problem, any time source is now accepted and after the time source is lost, the system time is marked as Not Available.

Bug Fixes

Conversion to NMEA 0183 V1.5
The $--HDG sentence does not exist in NMEA 0183 V1.5. So this sentence is now converted into a $--HDM sentence.

AIS VDO Sentence
An AIS VDO sentence without channel information is now correctly decoded into “Own information not broadcast”. It used to be discarded.

WPL Sentence to PGN 130074
Fixed an error in the position conversion from a WPL sentence to PGN 130074.

RPS field in PGN 129285
Fixed a bug that lead to an incorrect Route Position Sequence number in PGN 129285, which sometimes prevented a waypoint name from being displayed on an autopilot controller.

Time/Date from GNSS Sentences
If GNSS sentences were received with Talker ID “II” (Integrated Instruments), the Time and Date of Fix were not decoded, resulting in empty Time and Date of Fix fields in PGN 129029.

AIS Conversions
Fixed a bug in converting AIS Messages 1, 2 and 3 from NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183, which lead to a random COG in the resulting NMEA 0183 sentence.

Fixed a bug in converting AIS Message 14 from NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183, which could lead to a missing character in the broadcast safety message.

some bugs in calulcations of message sizes.

SeaTalk Wind Angle
Wind Angle datagrams transmitted by the MiniPlex-3 were truncated at 327°. Higher angles up to 359° were output as 0°.

GNSS Fix Time Error
An “integral” Fix Time (e.g. “125412” instead of “125412.34”) resulted in a Fix Time with a random millisecond offset. GNSS sentences generated from an NMEA 2000 or SeaTalk source that have no GNSS Status or Mode, are now filled with a “2D” Fix/Mode (“A” and “1” respectively). This prevents an empty Status Flag field in GLL and RMC sentences and a “255” mode value in GGA sentences.

New Features

Vessel speed
NMEA 0183 sentence VBW is now converted in NMEA 2000 PGN 130578 and vice versa. These contain water and ground referenced vessel speeds in longitudinal and transversal directions.

Improvements

GPS resolution
The resolution of latitude and longitude of NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 position data has been increased from 3 to 5 decimals, which equals a resolution of appr. 2 cm.

NMEA 0183 GPS sentence decoding
Until now, V2 firmware only decoded the NMEA 0183 RMC sentence in full while only reading unique fields from GLL, GGA, VTG and ZDA not present in RMC. This resulted in incomplete or no GPS data being transmitted on NMEA 2000.
This version decodes all of these sentences again.

System time
Improved handling of system time received from all protocols.

Navigation data
With an activated waypoint, plotters and navigation software output different sets of navigation parameters to control an autopilot. Handling these differences has been greatly improved.

NMEA sentence length
The NMEA 0183 standard specifies a maximum sentence length of 82 characters. Some devices however transmit sentences longer than 82 characters. The MiniPlex already accepted sentences up to 100 characters but due to market demand, this limit has been increased to 124 characters.

Bug Fixes

MiniPlex-3xx-N2K not detected by chart plotters on NMEA 2000 networks
In a setup with just a MiniPlex-3xx-N2K and a chart plotter on an NMEA 2000 network, the chart plotter would not receive any data of the MiniPlex when they were powered up simultaneously. Neither would all of the inputs of the MiniPlex be visible in the Device List on the chart plotter. After restarting the MiniPlex by either a reset command or changing any of the Device Type settings on the NMEA 2000 page, everything would be working fine again.

AIS NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000
AIS message types 2 and 3 were not converted from NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000.

NMEA 0183 DBT sentence
Whereas a DPT sentence generated from NMEA 2000 or SeaTalk data would be routed just fine, when set to DBT, this sentence would not be routed at all.

NMEA 0183 VLW sentence from SeaTalk
When receiving trip- and total log data from SeaTalk, the MiniPlex would occasionally output empty VLW sentence. This has been fixed. The VLW sentences are not output continuously though, since this information only appears on the SeaTalk bus once every 30 seconds to once every 1.5 minute, depending on the boat speed. Every time this information is received, the MiniPlex will transmit a VLW sentence for 15 seconds.

COG Magnetic in NMEA 0183 VTG sentence
The COG Magnetic field of a VTG sentence generated from NMEA 2000 contained a random value when no magnetic COG was received from NMEA 2000.

System time
Corrected an error in reading the year field of a ZDA sentence.

NMEA 0183 APB/RMB sentence decoding
Sentences with valid status flags but empty data fields are now handled correctly.

SeaTalk datagram 85 - Navigation data
This datagram now correctly flags valid BTW, DTW and XTE values. Raymarine displays no longer show erroneous values like 409.6 and 40.96 if this information isn't available.

AIS conversion
AIS sentences converted from NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000 appeared on the NMEA 2000 network originating from the wrong NMEA 0183 input of the MiniPlex. This has been fixed.

New Features

High speed GPS output on NMEA 0183
NMEA 0183 sentences GGA, GLL, RMC and VTG can now be output at 10Hz, matching NMEA 2000 PGN 129025 - Position, Rapid Update. This option can be enabled by checking "10Hz" in the "NMEA 0183 Generation" section of MPX-Config3 V2.4.2.

Bug Fixes

Magnetic variation in RMC sentence
The variation field of an NMEA 0183 RMC sentence generated from NMEA 2000 or SeaTalk data contained a value of 327.67° when no variation was received from either protocol.

Priority
The priority sentence ($PSMDPR) read from the MiniPlex contained a erroneous character, causing MPX-Config3 V2.4.0 to lock up. This has been fixed in the firmware and in MPX-Config3 V2.4.1.

NMEA 2000 Certified firmware

As of version 2.0, the MiniPlex-3 firmware is NMEA 2000 certified. Every MiniPlex-3 will be an NMEA 2000 certified product when this firmware is loaded.

New NMEA 2000 Features

Virtual devices
Each input of the MiniPlex-3 now appears on the NMEA 2000 network as a unique (virtual) device. When two NMEA 0183 inputs receive similar data like position from a GPS and an AIS, this will now appear on the NMEA 2000 network as originating from two different devices instead of one.

NMEA 2000 Device Type
Each NMEA 0183 input can be set to appear as a specific Device Type on the NMEA 2000 network. A VHF radio on the NMEA 2000 network should now accept GPS position from the MiniPlex-3 when the corresponding NMEA 0183 input receiving this GPS data is set to "Ownship Position (GNSS)". Some VHF radios were known to refuse GPS position originating from a generic "NMEA 0183 Gateway" device.

Waypoints
Waypoints sent from navigation software to the MiniPlex-3 using $--WPL sentences are now translated to PGN 130074, enabling NMEA 2000 connected plotters to receive them.

Improved reception of NMEA 2000 GPS data
Some Simrad plotters do not send PGN 129029 (GNSS Position) which contains key-information for the MiniPlex-3 to generate GGA, GLL and RMC sentences. Instead, these plotters only send PGN 129025 (Position, Rapid Update) which does not contain any information about the GPS mode and fix-quality. The MiniPlex-3 will now decode this PGN too and simulate status and mode flags in the GGA, GLL and RMC sentences.

Routing
NMEA 2000 data converted to NMEA 0183 can now be routed based on the Source Address of an NMEA 2000 device. This allows selective routing of similar data from different devices. This way, the position data from an AIS can be blocked while passing it from a GPS.

New SeaTalk Features

Routing
It is now possible to selectively route NMEA data to the SeaTalk bus. No data is sent to SeaTalk by default anymore.

Autopilot Control
Navigation data from NMEA 0183 or NMEA 2000 can now be routed to the SeaTalk bus to control an autopilot. Waypoint names are also converted to SeaTalk and will appear on SeaTalk repeaters.

GPS Mode
The GPS mode/status on the SeaTalk bus is decoded now to reflect the GPS status in the converted NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 data.

General Processing

In previous firmware versions, received data was stored in input-queue's and routed from there to the various outputs. The slowest output determined the overall data throughput to prevent any data loss on the outputs. This could could in turn cause any input queue to overflow and loss of data on all outputs.

In V2.0 the input queue's have been removed. Instead, each NMEA 0183 output now has a buffer capable of holding one second of data at 4800 Baud. Each NMEA sentence is now immediately routed to the outputs when received. The result is that if a "slow" output cannot keep up with the "feed", only this output will loose data. All others, including the USB, Ethernet and WiFi interfaces, will no longer loose the same data. This has improved the overall throughput of the MiniPlex-3 dramatically.

Bug Fixes

The system time is no longer set from a GNSS (GPS) source when it has no position fix.

Improvements

Depth Sentence
An option is added (option/bit 19)) to change the $SDDPT sentence generated from SeaTalk or NMEA 2000 to a $SDDBT sentence. This option can be enabled by typing PSMDOP,C,19,1 in Manual NMEA Sentence Input in MPX-Config3

Attitude
Conversion added from PGN 127252 (Heave) and PGN 127257 (Attitude) to Furuno’s proprietary NMEA 0183 sentences $PFEC,GPhve and $PFEC,GPatt.

Bug Fixes

A bug has been fixed which caused two or more MiniPlex-3E(-N2K) multiplexers on the same network to lock up if the configuration was read from one multiplexer. The other(s) would respond to the $PSMDVER sentence sent by the first with their respective $PSMDVER sentences and each would continue to invoke a response from the other.

Bug Fixes

Water Depth received from SeaTalk was not converted to NMEA 2000. This is fixed.

Bug Fixes

A bug has been fixed that could lock up the MiniPlex when it received too much NMEA data through the host interface. This particularly affected the MiniPlex-3E(-N2K) set to UDP broacast, on a network with other multiplexers which also sent NMEA data using UDP broadcast.

Improvements

Adrena/NKE support
Adrena navigation software uses NKE proprietary sentences ($PNKEA…) to control the layout on NKE displays. These sentences contain so called Extended-ASCII characters like the degree-sign (°) which are not supported by the NMEA 0183 standard. These Extended ASCII characters are no longer blocked by the MiniPlex.

Bug Fixes

AIS Class B targets
The MiniPlex-3 firmware is based on NMEA 2000 standard V2.0. However, many AIS transponders still use NMEA 2000 V1.3.

PGN’s 129809 and 129810 (Class B Name and Static Data) received in V1.3 format were not converted to NMEA 0183. This mainly affects Raymarine AIS transponders. This version now correctly converts these PGN’s into NMEA 0183 sentences.

Improvements

• An automatic Device Instance filter ensures that similar PGN's from multiple sources are converted only from the source with the lowest Device Instance number. In a later version, it will be possible to filter on Device Instance through the sentence Filter.
• The divisor in the Sentence Filter now only affects routing to the NMEA outputs. Routing to a host port always occurs at the original frequency.
• When navigating a route, the origin and destination waypoint names are now also converted from NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000 and back. It is no longer necessary to use numerical waypoint names only.

Bug Fixes

• A bug is fixed that prevented conversion from an HDT sentence to an HDM sentence.
• When navigation data was converted from PGN 129284 to an RMB sentence, the minutes in the longitude field of the RMB sentence were 10 times too high. This has been corrected.

Improvements

• The !AIVDO sentence (Own Ship data) is now converted from NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000 and back.
• Conversion of AIS Message 14 (Safety Related Broadcast message) added in both directions.
• In NMEA 0183 AIS messages, unused positions in text fields contain a '@' character. These were replcaed with ASCII code 0xFF when converted to an NMEA 2000 PGN, which is the NMEA 2000 value to indicate unused characters. Some plotters however displayed these 0xFF as 'ÿ' characters. This firmware no longer converts the '@' into 0xFF. The NMEA 2000 standard is not quite clear on this.
• The fixed Device Instance filter for Water Depth (PGN 128267) is improved. Previously, only depth from sensors with Device Instance 0 (the default value per NMEA 2000 standard) was converted.
  
  On SeaTalk NG networks however, depth sensors have a (arbitrary?) non-zero Device Instance which cannot be changed. This effectively inhibits conversion to NMEA 0183 in the MiniPlex.
  
  This is now solved with a dynamic Device Instance filter, converting PGN 128267 from the lowest Device Instance only when received from multiple devices.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed errors in calculation AIS target sizes.

Improvements

• Full conversion of AIS Class A and B targets from NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000 and vice versa
  The following AIS messages are converted:
   • Class A: messages 1, 2, 3 and 5.
   • Class B: messages 18, 24A and 24B.
   • Class B: message 19 from NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000 only.

Bug Fixes

• AIS NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000
   • GNSS type in message 5 was not read correctly.
   • Negative longitudes (W) and latitudes (S) were converted incorrectly.
  
• AIS NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183
   • Precision Accuracy and SOG were corrupted at negative longitudes.
   • Longitude was corrupted at negative latitudes (S).
  

Bug Fixes

• Routing
  Routing of NMEA 0183 sentences appeared to be arbitrary due to an unitialized variable.
• SeaTalk rudder angle
  The rudder angle received from the SeaTalk bus was not processed correctly, which resulted in large angles when the rudder was steering left.
• Magnetic <-> true heading
  Compensating a heading with a magnetic variation or deviation resulted in erroneous heading values when the variation or deviation value was negative (W).

Improvements

• Partial NMEA 2000 AIS support
  Currently, the following conversion are implemented:
   • Class A targets in both directions between NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000
   • Class B targets -position report only- from NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000
• Autopilot control from naviation applications
  The buffer of the host input (USB, Ethernet) is increased to 1024 bytes. With a waypoint activated, a navigation application can send many sentences at a time to the multiplexer to control an autopilot. It is then required that the application supports hardware flow control (CTS/RTS). This allows the multiplexer to temporarily suspend the flow of data when the buffer in the multiplexer is almost full. Unfortunately, not all applications support this. The increased buffer size prevents overflow in such cases.
• Improved autopilot control from NMEA 2000
  PGN 129284 (Navigation Data) now has field 6 (Calculation Type) set to 0, indicating Great Circle calculations. Neither the APB nor the RMB sentence contain the calculation type so Great Circle is assumed by default because this corrects for kong legs and has the smallest error on short stretches.
  Also, fields 3 (Course/Bearing Ref.), 4 (Perpendicular Crossed) and 5 (Arrival Circle Entered) now keep their contents when being transmitted. In previous versions, these fields were overwritten with a "Not Available" status by some plotters when no waypoint was activated in the plotter.
  
• NMEA 2000 Device Instance
  It is now possible to remotely change the Device Instance of the multiplexer. Many chart plotters offer the posibility to list all connected NMEA 2000 devices and to assign a Device Instance to a connected device. This allows selecting data from multiple devices of the same kind. This will now work for multiple NMEA 2000 enabled multiplexers too.
• Fixed filter for NMEA 2000 Water Depth from Device Instance 0
  A built-in filter only passes PGN 128267 (Water Depth) from devices with Device Instance set to 0. Many superyachts employ two sounders, one near the bow and one aft, at the rudder. The hard-coded filter allow selection of which sounder data to pass.
  At a later stage, we will add a Device Instance column to the Sentence Filter.
• Transmission of NMEA 2000 Heatbeat message
  NMEA 2000 enabled multiplexers now send PGN 126993 (NMEA 2000 Heartbeat message) onto the NMEA 2000 bus every minute.

Bug Fixes

Corrected the following errors in converting an RMB sentence to NMEA 2000:

• PGN 129283 (Cross Track Error)
  The XTE value was wrong for negative (Steer Right) numbers.
• PGN 129284 (Navigation Data)
  The Distance to Waypoint field was 100 times to small.

Bug Fixes

The following problems have been resolved:

• SeaTalk
  SeaTalk datagrams 84 and 9C (heading from autopilot) are now converted to NMEA again. They were removed in V1.13.1 because of ambiguities in the format description of these datagrams.
• NMEA 2000
  Conversion of PGN 130314 (Actual Pressure) contained an error, resulting in an MDA sentence with a pressure value 10 times lower. This has been corrected.
• NMEA 2000
  When the MiniPlex received an RMC sentence with empty magnetic variation fields, the sentence was not converted into NMEA 2000.
• NMEA 2000
  Values in NMEA 0183 sentences with a leading '+' sign were incorrectly read. This occured for instance with a VDO Depth sensor, which outputs positive offsets with a '+' sign in its DPT sentence.
  Formally the NMEA 0183 standard only allows a '-' sign for negative values, positive values should not have a sign. Our firmware did not check for a '+' sign. This has been added now.

Bug Fixes

• This firmware tells MPX-Config3 about the SeaTalk transmit capability, so MPX-Config3 will now enable/display a ST column on the output side of the Sentence Filter & Routing list.
• A bug has been fixed that locks up the MiniPlex when the WiFi connection breaks due to low signal levels or interference.

SeaTalk

Transmission of the most common SeaTalk¹ datagrams has been implemented. Currently, autopilot control ($--RMB sentence) is not implemented. We will add this in a future firmware update.

NMEA 2000 -> NMEA 0183 Conversion

Heading conversion is improved: NMEA 0183 sentences HDG, HDT and THS are now output at 10Hz when the heading source is NMEA 2000. In case of SeaTalk, these sentences are output at 2Hz, which equals the update rate on the SeaTalk bus.

New Features

The following conversions are added:

• RMC to ZDA: The time and date of an RMC sentence are used to generate a ZDA sentence.
• VTG to HDT: When a VTG sentence is received, the multiplexer generates a HDT sentence.